


Hit and Run

by Katiebug586



Category: Fillmore!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Car Accidents, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hospitalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24466849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiebug586/pseuds/Katiebug586
Summary: Sometimes the crime is not the true plot of the story.
Relationships: Cornelius Fillmore & Ingrid Third, Joseph Anza/Karen Tehama
Kudos: 7





	1. ACT ONE: Roadkill

It was another normal day at the Safety Patrol headquarters, Fillmore was at his desk doing some paperwork from past missions when Vallejo walked up to him. “Hey, Fillmore, I got another job for Third and you.”

  


“Really? I was enjoying my time off.”

  


“Very funny. There’s been some reports of stolen car parts from Auto Shop and of course, Folsom has been bugging me about it non-stop, so I’m assigning both of you to figure out who did it.”

  


“We won’t let you down, right, Ingrid?” He looked towards his partner, who simply nodded, getting up from her seat.

  


“Good. I mean, compared to your other cases, this is probably baby work for you two.”

  


“You should never assume the level or complexity of the crime until you solve it. It’s like an iceberg, there’s always something deeper underneath, no matter what the surface says.” Fillmore said, smirking as he got up from his seat. “You ready, Ingrid?”

  


“Ready, see you around, Vallejo.”

  


With that, the two left and Anza looked up from his desk. “Who wants to make a bet that Fillmore causes a decent amount of property damage?”

  


“Anza,” Vallejo groaned. “You make a bet when the outcome is uncertain, _not_ when it’s a given.”

  


Tehama couldn’t help but snort. “Good one, Vallejo.”

  


He shrugged in response. “I’ll be here all week. Anyways, a proper bet would be how _much_ damage he causes, not _if._ Him causing damage is a universal constant, I’m afraid, along with death and taxes.”

  


“Well, I’m betting at _least_ twenty dollars then.”

  


“You’re on.”

  


Tehama sighed, trying to focus on her work rather than the conversation going on around her. Truth be told, she really wanted to talk to Anza. “Hey, Anza?”

  


“Yea?”

  


“Do you wanna maybe do something after school?” She asked, though she already knew what his answer would be.

  


He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “You know I’d love to, but I can’t. Surprisingly, living all the way out in the city has its cons. Maybe we could do something this weekend?”

  


She smiled. “Sure.”

  


Meanwhile, Fillmore and Ingrid were at the Auto Shop, hunting for clues. It wasn’t long before Ingrid noticed something on the floor. “Fillmore, look.”

  


She pointed at the ground and on inspecting it, her partner saw that it was none other than barely visible oil-footprints, leading from where the stolen car parts used to be, all the way to the other Auto Shop exit. “Disco, come on, Ingrid.”

  


The two followed the oily trail outside, seeing that it lead towards a shack a little in the distance. It wasn’t exactly rocket nor car science to figure out where the stolen goods where. Fillmore motioned to his partner, leading her to the shack.

  


Without so much as a second thought, they busted the door open. Inside, there were several motor and car parts lying around the floor, along with the culprit, who seemed rather shocked, to say the least.

  


“Chekhov Penn, is it?" Ingrid asked, cornering the boy.

  


“I have an explanation, I swear!” Chekhov panicked, trying to make him seem less guilty than he was. The two partners anyways, not willing to listen to his excuses.

  


“You’ll have all the time to explain your situation when we get you back to HQ, now come on, let’s go,” Fillmore said, wanting to get back to what he was doing beforehand pronto. “It’s almost the end of the day and I want to go home and I’m sure my partner does too.”

  


Outside the school, Anza and Tehama were talking about this and that, their usual after-school conversation. “I can’t stand those High-Schoolers, they act like they’re _so_ cool just because they’re a grade or four above us!”

  


Anza nodded, not entirely engrossed in the conversation. That was mostly how he rolled, he was way more of a listener than a talker. “I know what you mean, but they probably _do_ have more life experiences than us.”

  


“Like what? The fact most of them can drive? Or that they have boyfriends and girlfriends? Jake Balboa can drive and _he’s_ in Eighth Grade!”

  


“You mean the guy who was held back _four_ times? I’m surprised he passed his driving test.”

  


“You don’t need a brain to drive, Anza.”

  


Anza grabbed his phone and turned it on. Seeing that the time said 4:50, he realized he only had 10 minutes to get to the bus station on time!

  


“Shoot, uh, I’m gonna miss the bus, I gotta go, I’ll catch you tomorrow!” He didn’t wait for Tehama to respond, running away from the school as fast as his legs could carry him. The girl simply waved her goodbyes before turning around and going the opposite way.

  


He ran past houses, trees, and people, leaping right into the middle of the street without a second thought. He could see the bus stop out of the corner of his eye, he just _had_ to move a _little_ faster.

  


“GET OUT OF THE WAY-” He heard someone scream, turning around just in time to see a honking car barreling right towards him. He _tried_ moving, he really did, but his legs felt completely invisible.

  


All he could do was stand and watch his inevitable death inch closer and closer.

  


After they dealt with Chekhov Penn, the two partners-in-fighting-crime got ready to go home. Fillmore grabbed some fish food while Ingrid hung up her sash.

  


“That was an easy case,” The girl murmured, watching her partner and best friend feed Miles. “ _Too_ easy.”

  


“Well, it’s like what Vallejo said,” Fillmore chucked slightly. “This was absolute baby work for us, wasn’t it?”

  


“It was, you don’t think there was something more to this, right? There usually always is, or at the very least, there’s some kind of hidden mechanism in the crime that just opens up even more questions.”

  


“I wouldn’t try to tempt fate like that, Ingrid. I’ll just call it an easy case that we solved in an exceptional and unusual amount of time.” He stretched, pulling his sash off as well, preparing to hang it up. As soon as he did, however, the door leading out to the hallway burst open as a panicked Tehama ran in.

  


"You have to help!" She screeched, grabbing Fillmore by his sleeve.

  


"Woah, woah, take it easy, dawg," The boy said, trying to pry her off of him. "What's wrong?"

  


"It's Anza! He... He was hit by a car!"


	2. ACT TWO: In The Name Of Love

_ “What?!” _ Was the first words out of Fillmore’s mouth after a long period of shocked silence from Ingrid and him. Anza… was hit by a  _ car? _ It didn’t seem possible, in fact, it just about bordered on surreal nightmare material.  _ “Please _ tell me you’re joking, Tehama.”

“Do you  _ THINK _ I’d joke about this, Fillmore?” The girl snapped back, gritting her teeth, before leaning on Fillmore, exhausted from not only running all the way from who knows where, but the fact someone close to her just got  _ hit by a car! _

“Calm down, take a deep breath, and tell us  _ exactly _ what happened.” Ingrid’s voice seemed unusually calm for someone who just heard one of their friends was badly hurt. While Fillmore was usually collected, it didn’t take detective work to figure out that he was extremely worried about the situation. Ingrid, on the other hand, had the same look she always did, if not a teeny tiny bit worried, but just barely. It didn’t mean that Ingrid didn’t care, she was probably just as worried as her partner, but she was a natural at not showing it.

“...I was out with Anza…” Tehama started, Ingrid nodding encouragingly as she took a long and thoughtful breath, unsure how to continue. “We said our goodbyes and I started walking home, when-”

“You didn’t  _ see _ him get hit, did you?” Fillmore interrupted, hoping his fellow patroller didn’t see something she shouldn’t have.

“No, thankfully not,” She continued. “Some kid ran up to me and asked if I was Anza’s partner. I said yes, wondering what kind of trouble he got into  _ this _ time, but when he said that Anza was hit by a  _ car, _ well, I couldn’t help myself and ran to where Anza was…”

“And then?” Ingrid asked, wondering where this was going and if it’d be more traumatic than Tehama first lead on.

“I might not have seen him get hit, but I still  _ saw _ him. He… He was in front of me on the road… and… and…” Her breathing quickened slightly, not wanting to get the next part of her story out. She grabbed her head, trying her best not to pass out from the horrific memories. “It was awful.”

Fillmore jumped over to her side, trying to support her from fainting. “Easy, easy.”

Tehama recovered but was obviously still shaken up from the experience. “The car that hit him was nowhere to be seen…”

“Must’ve been a hit and run, the coward that hit Anza couldn’t face the music, so he ran away, instead.” The boy commented, before looking back towards the traumatized eighth-grader. “Does anyone else know about this?”

She shook her head. “Well, besides the other witnesses and I, nobody else knows. That’s why I ran to you guys, I just didn’t expect for you two to be the only ones in the office. Well, getting back to the story, the ambulance picked up Anza, which leads me to my  _ main _ point, we need to get to the hospital,  _ now!” _

“If we leave now, we’ll be able to reach the hospital with enough time to spare for letting everyone  _ else _ know about the situation,” Ingrid stated, looking at the clock on the wall, which read 4 PM on the dot. “But I don’t know how long it’ll be until they’ll have an update for us, we could be there all night.”

“I don’t care!” Tehama exclaimed. “I don’t care how long it takes or if I’m sitting there  _ all night, _ I  _ need _ to know that Anza’s okay!”

“Now that’s what I’d call  _ true love, _ ” Fillmore stated, before sighing. “Either way, we should never leave a fellow officer  _ and _ friend hanging like this.”

Ingrid nodded, finding herself swindled by her partner’s words once more. “I suppose you’re right. I bet the other patrollers would be at the hospital in a heartbeat if we were the ones that were hurt. Come on, let’s go.”

The hospital was a lot emptier than the trio had expected it to be, with only a few people milling about and even fewer in the waiting room. It left a feeling of dread and unease within them all, like one of those days that brought about a feeling of hopelessness, but while those days passed by, this was real and Fillmore had a feeling it would only get worse from here on out.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they waited in the main lobby and while Fillmore and Ingrid would exchange comments to one another, Tehama was silent the whole time. She blankly stared at the TV on the wall, watching some tacky advertisement about new fast food menu items, though it didn’t take rocket science to know she was barely paying attention to it. It was like the entire situation was finally hitting her hard and she was taking it all in like a sponge soaking up water.

After what seemed like an eternity, a doctor came out to speak with them. He wore a vibrant white coat, along with a nametag that read ‘Dr. Sutter’. Pulling out a clipboard, he seemed very solemn reading what was on it. “I’m very sorry about what happened to your friend, Ms... Tehama, was it?” 

“Is he alright?!” That was the first time she spoke since arriving at the hospital, surprising everyone there with her outburst, even herself. "What's going to happen to him?"

“Well, we were able to stabilize him and stop the internal bleeding,” They all gasped upon hearing the words ‘internal bleeding’, even Ingrid. “But… But…”

“But what?!” Tehama snapped, though nobody could blame her aggressiveness. It was hard having to deal with not knowing if the person you loved the most was going to live or die. “If you stabilized him, he’s fine now, right?”

“Not exactly, I’m afraid. The impact fractured his spine,” Dr. Sutter said, a tone of sorrow and misery in his voice. “Leaving him with a T6 complete injury.”

The phrase ‘T6 complete injury’ sent chills down the shellshocked girl’s spine even though she didn’t know exactly what those words meant. “What… What does  _ that _ mean?”

“It means… It means  _ he’s paralyzed from the waist down and will never walk again.” _

The doctor’s words made Tehama’s blood run frigidly cold, she now  _ knew _ what he meant, but it just couldn’t be possible! “W-What?! No! You have to be mistaken! He can’t be... He can’t be…”

“Dawg…”

Fillmore looked over to the Patrol’s Forensic Scientist, whose face was devoid of any emotion besides, shock, horror, and truly unbearable grief. Without warning, she latched onto him, sobbing into his chest, her guttural cries of misery making him feel a level of sympathy he didn’t even know was possible. Holding her tighter, he felt his eyes water, not even trying to stop himself from crying. “T-There, t-there.”

Ingrid had the same look of grief as he did, but there were no tears coming forth from her so far. Once again he found himself wondering how she managed to hold herself together so well, even in the face of such unspeakable and horrendous tragedy.

It was completely silent, save for the muffled sobs and cries from Tehama, as the entire group mourned for their friend and all the difficulties ahead. Well, it  _ was _ silent until a certain Junior Commissioner burst into the waiting room, wearing a ridiculous pink bicycle helmet with kitty cat ears. His arrival caused everyone, even Tehama, to look up and stare at him. “I got here as fast as I could! What are you people staring at?! Listen, if it’s about the helmet, it’s my little sister’s, it’s the only one I could find in such a short amount of-”

“Dude, nobody cares about the helmet,” Fillmore began, his voice cracking slightly as he tried to not let tears fall from his eyes, instead opting to just motion towards one of the chairs. “Take a seat, the doctor has an update, but… i-it’s not good news.” 

“What?!” Vallejo shouted out, hearing the not so good news. “No, no, this can’t be happening! What am I going to tell Miss. Folsom?! What-”

“What about Anza?!” Tehama suddenly cried out, her previously devastated mood quickly shifting towards one of livid fury towards the Junior Commissioner. “We can worry about Folsom later! Anza’s in there, he’s hurt, and he’s probably going to be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life! Who’s going to be there for him when he wakes up? Who’s gonna reassure him that it’ll all be okay?! While I can see  _ why _ Folsom can be a problem, she’s not a problem right now!”

_ “You’re right, I’m sorry.” _ The sentence came out in a hushed whisper, which was rare for the usually loud and boisterous kid. His eyes shifted towards the floor, a look of shame on his face, regretting what he had said moments before.

“Speaking of which,” Tehama gazed over to the doors which lead out to the main part of the hospital. “Can we at least see him?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course, but I doubt he’ll be awake, given what he was brought in for. His parents are with him now, but when they leave, you can see him.”

No sooner than the doctor said that, Mr. and Mrs. Anza stepped out into the waiting room. Mrs. Anza was crying softly, not bothering to look at anybody, while Mr. Anza was trying to comfort her. He glanced over at the group of patrollers, giving them a quick look of pity and sympathy, before turning back around.

Tehama, seeing that they were done with visiting their son, got up. “I’m going to go check up on my partner. Who wants to go with me?”

Ingrid rejected the offer. “No thanks, I’d rather not be a burden on you or Anza. You two deserve some time alone after what happened.”

However, instead of staying behind like his friends, Fillmore had other plans. “I’ll go. While it’s true that you guys need some time together, I feel like you shouldn’t  _ have _ to do this alone. You need someone to be there for you.”

Tehama wiped her eyes, a slight smile on her face for the first time in what felt like forever. “Thanks, Fillmore.”

“You don’t have to thank me for anything.”

The walk to Room 401 was filled with ghastly silence between the two; both lost in their own thoughts and thinking about how everything would change now. Eventually, they reached the door to the aforementioned room and noticing Tehama’s slight apprehension, Fillmore opened it for her, but nothing could prepare themselves for what they were about to see. The sight that greeted them was a scene straight out of a soap opera; or rather several soap operas strung together.

Their injured friend laid in the hospital bed, hooked up to all kinds of machines and devices that were beeping and buzzing constantly. There were several bandages wrapped around his body, which the two only now realized look so frail and petite. While he might not have been awake or aware, his face had a look of pain and discomfort on it that was unmistakable. All in all, Anza looked  _ extremely _ weak and vulnerable, not even including the fact that he’d never move his legs ever again.

Seeing her beloved in such a state caused Tehama's eyes to water, but she didn’t cry out or anything of that sort; instead, she knelt down beside the bed and held onto Anza’s hand tightly as if she was afraid that if she let go, he would disappear. Meanwhile, Fillmore stood back and looked on awkwardly, wondering if maybe he  _ should _ head back to where Ingrid and Vallejo were and give the two some much-needed space.

“I-I’m sorry,” She mumbled, sniffling a bit as she tried to compose herself. “This never should have happened, I should’ve been there and got you out of the way so-”

“So then  _ you _ would get hit and have Anza worried sick instead?” Tehama glared at Fillmore with an ‘I know you’re right, but I don’t want to admit it’ look. “Listen, I know you  _ want _ to blame yourself and I understand,  _ everyone _ has some kind of regret they wish to redo, I know  _ I _ do, but playing the blame game with yourself isn’t going to do anyone any good and it sure as heck isn’t going to help out Anza. What’s done is done, the only thing left for us to do is to move on and adapt.”

“I know, I know,” Tehama said, her gaze shifting downwards towards the hard floor beneath them. “I guess it’s.... I’m afraid that when Anza wakes up, he’ll hate me for not being there for him. I mean, we’re partners, we’re supposed to have each other’s backs, but what do I go and do? I let him get hit by a stinking car! Perhaps a part of myself  _ wants _ him to hate me.”

Fillmore couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. “I know a certain Junior Commissioner that went through the same problems you’re going through.”

“Vallejo? What could  _ he _ , of all people, know about this?”

“Well, maybe he didn’t go through  _ exactly _ the same problems you’re going through, but it all boils down to the same issue, a lack of self-confidence and trust in yourself, but I’m getting off-track here,” He crouched down to her level. “Lemme ask you this. Let’s say you were in Anza’s position, would you hate  _ him _ for it?”

“No! Why would- Ohhhhhh…”

“There, now do you get it?”

“Yes, I do. I… I hope he wakes up soon.”

No sooner had Tehama said that, a weak but audible groan came from the bedside. The two turned their attention to Anza, who was struggling to wake up from his forced slumber. He winced slightly from the pain of his wounds but managed to open his eyes halfway, staring blankly at the scene around him. “W...What?”

“Anza! You’re okay!” Tehama said with glee, giving him a light hug. “We were so worried about you!” 

“We?” The boy managed to pull himself up, groggily rubbing his head. “W-What happened? My… My legs feel weird.  _ Really weird.” _

“Uh,” The girl turned her head towards Fillmore, silently asking him what she should Anza. To her annoyance, he simply shrugged, causing her to sigh in exasperation while Anza just looked confused. Turning back towards her partner, she decided that perhaps it was best to just get it over with, without sugar-coating it. “Truth is, you were hit by a car.”

“I was? Oh, now I remember,” He winced once more, clutching his side in discomfort. “That explains the excruciating pain I’m in, though I still don’t understand why my legs don’t-”

“I’m  _ getting _ to that,” Her voice came out a little harsher than she meant it to, causing the others to look at her with some concern. “You see, when the car hit you, it did something far worse than just some cuts and bruises, it… it…”

“It broke your spine.” Fillmore finished for her, a tone of finality in his voice. “I’m sorry, but you’ll never walk again.”

“W-What?! I…” Anza’s voice died down as he realized what exactly happened. The two wanted to comfort their paralyzed friend when all of a sudden, he started giggling. “Okay, okay. I have to say, that’s  _ pretty  _ funny. Granted, it’s a really crude joke to pull on someone, but for a second, I honestly fell for it!”

“Anza,” Tehama whimpered, trying to hold his hand once more. Did he  _ really _ think it was all a joke? “It’s  _ not _ a joke. We’d  _ never  _ joke about something like this.”

“Really? Because you’re doing it right now,” Anza muttered, trying to move his legs, even a little. “I just need to get them to work, give me a minute, okay?!”

Tehama looked away, trying not to witness the scene in front of her. Despite the boy’s best efforts, the numbness in his legs didn’t go away and now that he thought about it, his entire waist seemed to be completely shut off from the rest of him. He growled, using his hands to try to shift himself off the bed and onto the floor.

However, that was a  _ huge _ mistake. As soon as his sensation-less legs hit the floor, they gave out completely, sending him falling to the floor before anyone could catch him, also tearing out several IVs in his arms, great, more pain.

Groaning, he looked up to see his concerned friends, but the minor setback didn’t stop him from trying to push himself up once again. “I… I can do it! I got to-”

_ “Joseph, stop.” _

He couldn’t help but scowl at Fillmore, silently cursing him. “Why should I?! I can’t be paralyzed, I… I can’t.”

With a little help from Tehama, Anza managed to sit himself up on the cold and hard floor, staring at his now useless legs with a look of apathy and cynicism. “It’s… It’s not a joke, is it?”

His partner hugged him tightly and while she cried and sobbed into his chest, telling him how it would be okay and that she’d never let him out of her sight again, poor Anza couldn’t feel anything that wasn’t resentment and aggravation nor could he feel anything past his waist.


	3. ACT THREE: A View For Two

It had been a few weeks since Anza’s unfortunate accident and the Safety Patrol was more or less trying to get used to this new ‘normal’, as unusual and odd as it seemed to be for all of them.

Luckily for Vallejo, it didn’t take too much sucking up to Principal Folsom to keep Anza in the Patrol. According to her, ‘The patrol could use some diversity’ which basically translated to ‘I want the patrol to have a disabled person in it so it looks like I care about that stuff and get free brownie points for my actions.’ It was all a guise of ‘equality’, merely for her own benefit, but at this rate, Vallejo wasn’t going to argue about it with her. Anza was still in the patrol, right? That’s all that mattered.

After a while of rehabilitation, along with getting a wheelchair, the paralyzed boy was finally ready to return to school. Well, he was _physically_ ready, definitely not _mentally_ ready in _any capability._

As he pushed himself through the hall, everyone stared at him with varying degrees of sympathy and pity and he _hated_ it. He was used to being unseen, just another patroller in the field, expendable and utterly uninteresting to most. But now, he was so _glaringly_ obvious, there might as well be a neon sign over his head flashing ‘Look at me! I'm in a wheelchair! How unusual!’

“Take a photo, it’ll last longer.” He growled, trying to focus on getting to HQ. At least he _knew_ half the people there, there was also that _one_ girl he might’ve fancied. _Might’ve_.

Finally reaching the only place in the school where he felt like he belonged, he opened the door, bracing himself for whatever inevitable changes might await him.

Thankfully, HQ looked nearly the same that it did _before_ his horrific accident, if not a little more depressing. As patrollers talked to one another, not yet noticing him, the atmosphere around the area felt slightly more stifling and oppressive than it did before.

“Hey, Anza!”

Thanks a lot, O’Farrell. With that, everyone turned to stare at him and his wheelchair, though quickly looked away when he met their gaze, though he knew they would continue to look when he glanced away. Where the heck was Tehama? Ignoring the embarrassing stares, he looked around for his partner and when he finally spotted her, she waved but didn’t say anything, as if she had no idea what to say to him.

He couldn’t blame her, of course. There wasn’t much to speak about that _wouldn’t_ eventually lead to the question of ‘How’s life in a wheelchair, now that you’re paralyzed from the waist down, probably forever?’ It wasn’t like she _wanted_ to bring it up, he knew that much at least, but with such a huge change, there was no room for small talk, it was just too uncomfortable. Yet, perhaps he should go talk to her anyways, she was…. She was _nice,_ compared to everyone else here, most of them being only _borderline tolerable._

Before he could say something to her, she was already walking away, presumably to attend to something important, like work. Right, he still had important work to do himself. Wheeling over to where he _presumed_ his desk still was, hoping they didn’t resign him and his desk supplies to the floor, he let out a sigh of relief seeing his nameplate still where he left it. However, he noticed something was wrong. “Where’s… Where’s my chair?”

The last bit of sleepiness wore off and as everyone stared at him with a look of genuine concern, he realized what he said and glanced down at himself, resisting the urge to facepalm from such a stupid comment. “Oh. Nevermind.”

Wow, that was quite the knee-slapper, wasn’t it? Maybe it’d be more of one if he could actually _feel_ his knees.

Ignoring his past stupidity, he wheeled to where his chair _would’ve_ been and turned on his computer. This is just a normal day, Anza, just do what you normally do. Finish some paperwork, thank Fillmore and Ingrid for helping out with the last few weeks of paperwork you couldn’t do because you were in the hospital, lunch, do some homework, find something to mindlessly do for the last few hours, then go home.

Speaking of home, he was honestly glad to be back, spending a week or two in a stuffy hospital was no fun what-so-ever. While his parents treated him with even more pity and sympathy, at least they had a reason to, they _were_ his parents, after all. With everyone else, he knew that as soon as he disappeared behind the hallway, they’d forget about him entirely and go on with their day.

Trying to type out a report and ignoring everyone’s stares was harder than he thought and after a small while, he couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s with you people?! Stop looking at me!”

Even though they looked away and he turned back around to finish the report, he just _knew_ they were continuing to stare. Hitting save and exiting the program, he turned back around. “Alright, you know what? I’m done! I’m going for a walk!”

Not acknowledging the irony of his sentence, he pushed himself out the door and was gone. Tehama took this as her moment to shine and ran up to the gathering crowd of onlookers. “What is _wrong_ with you people?! Anza is _clearly_ distressed about this and even _asked_ you to stop staring at him, but _no,_ you guys just kept staring at him like some creepos! I'm going after him!"

Before anyone could say anything, she ran after Anza, leaving the rest of the patrol in shocked silence at both of the partners’ outbursts.

“Was this our fault?” Fillmore muttered, watching the area where Tehama was only a mere moment before.

“Yes, yes it was,” Vallejo stated, blunt as ever. “But don’t worry about it, they’ll be back. But on another note, remember the hit and run case? With… Anza? Well, we might have a lead on who hit him.”

“You gotta be kidding me man,” The boy began, surprised they could even pull in a lead from a case like this. “Who? Isn’t this usually the police’s job?”

“It is, but _we_ might be able to figure out the license plate,” The Junior Commissioner stepped aside, allowing a small kid, perhaps a grade or two below them, to step up beside him. “Karl Penn here says he knows someone who has them. Talk with them, I got to tell everyone else to stop gawking at Anza like a fish out of water.”

“Uh, hi,” The boy squeaked, trying to get messy brown hair out of his face. Being surrounded by officers was raising the poor kid’s anxiety tenfold. “You know Chekhov, right? He’s my brother, but I don’t support what he’s doing.”

“Just spit it out, what does he have to do with this?”

“He and my other brothers have been selling stolen motors and I don’t really know but… but… they sold one of the motors to the guy who hit Anza and I know this because I was there when they sold it to them and I saw it hit your friend and so I told his girlfriend and-”

“Slow down, slow down,” Fillmore put his hand in front of the now panicking kid, before glancing at the interrogation room. “This sounds pretty serious, if this is legit, you might be the only one who’ll be able to talk through to him so we can get that license plate.”

Ingrid walked over as he said this, carrying a cup of cocoa. “Hey, Fillmore, what’s going on? Who’s with you?”

“We got a lead.”

In the interrogation room, Chekhov was being questioned, but like most perps, he was stubborner than a bull. “ _Why_ should _I_ tell _you?_ How do I know you’re not going to turn me in after I say something?”

“You don’t,” Fillmore commented, trying to pick and choose his words carefully. “But it’s not really _our_ business what you do out of school. Granted, it’s wrong, but that’s not the point. Think of the consequences here, man. One of _your_ ‘customers’ crippled some poor and innocent kid and you have the evidence to bring them to justice. Do you really want to have _not_ doing the right thing on your moral conscience like that?”

The boy scowled at him for a few moments before letting out a defeated sigh and pulling out a piece of paper, circling a number. “Fine, here, take it. But don’t think my brothers and I are going to stop doing what we’re doing. You can’t make me change.

“I know I can’t, nobody here can. It’s up to yourself to change,” Fillmore took the piece of paper and walked towards the door as if he was leaving, but then turned back around towards Chekhov. “Anyone can change, man, but some don’t want to. I just _hope_ this taught you a lesson.”

Back outside, Ingrid reviewed the piece of paper. “So, what are we going to do with this?”

“Give it to the police, it’s the only thing we can do, Ingrid. I’m not gonna play tattlecop on the boy though, I’ll say it was an anonymous tip. But,” The boy put his hand on his head, distressed. “Why do people _do_ this? Not just stealing motors and selling them for a profit, but hitting kids and then taking off as if nothing happened? The world is sick.”

Ingrid side-hugged him. “That’s just because you’re looking at all the _sick_ parts, Fillmore. You need to look at the other side, like for starters, we’re going to bring someone to much-needed justice.”

The boy couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Ingrid. I… I hope Anza’s okay.”

“Tehama’s a great partner, I’m sure she can get him back on his feet in no time, metaphorically, that is.”

The school’s rooftops were lonely and deserted, perfect for a certain handicapped boy to escape to. Anza wheeled himself to the edge, looking down at the far drop from the roof to the ground. While he’d probably get vertigo any other time, today he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

Usually, the view would be nice, watching the trees and grass sway in the wind, but looking down and seeing the beasts that plowed him down only a few weeks ago traveling the streets like they owned it made him sick to his stomach. He _shouldn’t_ remember, but he did. He remembered feeling the worst pain in the world as a truck barrelled into him, tossing him onto the asphalt paving. He remembered just a split second or two before he passed out feeling his spine snap in half before his entire waist and below fell silent. He remembered-

“Anza?” A sickeningly familiar voice broke him out of his thoughts, making him turn around. Seeing his partner, he scowled slightly. Not at her in particular, he just wanted to be left alone, thank you very much. “What are you doing here?”

“ _Well,_ _excuse me, princess,_ I didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed up here. Don’t you have fingerprints to analyze or something? How did you find me, anyway?”

“Anza,” Tehama sighed, walking up towards him. “You _always_ come up here when you’re upset. _We_ always come up here, remember?’

“Right, it is a nice view, after all. Still, why do _you_ care?” He could feel his emotions _wanting_ to come through, but he had to remain strong. He _couldn’t_ cry, as much as he desired to. “I’m totally useless and I always will be.”

“You’re _not_ useless!” She held onto his arm, emphasizing on the ‘not’ part. “You’re… You’re just hurting.”

“Of _course_ , I’m hurting, Tehama!” He turned towards her sharply, his eyes watering slightly. As much as he wanted to contain everything within, it was _going_ to come out and it was going to come out now, it seemed. “I’m stuck in a stupid wheelchair, all because of some _stupid_ accident! It doesn’t matter what you try to say, I’m one-hundred-percent useless!”

He quickly took off, wanting to escape from the situation and _her,_ but a sharp rock and the speed in which he was going caused his wheelchair to flip over, making him land on the ground. He groaned, holding back in several cuss words as he tried to ignore the pain from the parts of his body that he could still feel.

Feeling a pair of arms attempt to hug him, he let out a small hiss, trying to push them away, but being in such a position and with his partner being stronger than he thought, she hugged him tighter to her. Even though his tough persona wanted to get back in that wheelchair and bail, the _true_ part of him realized how touch-starved he was, slowly giving in to the hug.

“It’s… It’s n-not fair,” He hiccupped, feeling even more tears fall down his face. But he didn’t try to stop them, it wasn’t worth it. At the very least, he was showing his soft side to someone he knew wouldn’t blackmail him because of it. “I… I… I d-don’t deserve this.”

“You don’t, I’m sorry, please don’t hate me.”

“W-What?” Did she seriously just say that? “Why… would I hate you?”

Now it was Tehama’s turn to cry as she buried herself in her partner’s chest, still holding onto him in some kind of death grip that would make the Hulk look like Shrek. “I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! I should’ve been there to save you!”

“It’s not your fault. I… It’s not anybody’s fault,” He responded, wiping a tear from his eye. “It’s not even _my_ fault, I.., I guess that’s just how life works.”

He could take blaming himself, but Tehama blaming herself for this? Nope, no way, that’s where he draws the line. Still, perhaps playing such trivial games of grief and self-hatred wasn’t exactly what they should be doing. He chuckled slightly, realizing something truly fortunate. “I’m just glad _you’re_ okay. Nobody deserves this, but at least it’s me and not you.”

“You dummy!” She groaned, releasing him from her lethal hug and punching him lightly on the shoulder. “You don’t deserve this either! Still, I mean, you’re _alive,_ right? I know you _feel_ like you’re useless, but I personally think you’d be _more_ useless if you were buried six feet under.”

“That _is_ true,” He mused. “But you can’t get rid of Anza that easily, I’m afraid. You can stick him in a wheelchair, but it takes more than that to actually _kill_ him. Speaking of which, can you help me up?”

She nodded, helping position him back into his wheelchair. Unlike mere minutes ago, he felt more comfortable with how it looked and how _he_ looked. Sure, people would stare, but that’s just natural.

“The view sure is pretty.” Anza mumbled, watching it once more.

Tehama sighed. “I bet it looks a _lot_ better when you’re watching it with someone else, though. Also, I’m sorry about everyone staring at you earlier.”

“Eh, I’ll get used to it. Besides, it’s better to stand out than just be another… I don’t know, another O’Farrell?”

She couldn’t help but snicker, enjoying the joke. “Hey, I think O’Farrell stands out more than the both of us combined.”

Even though Anza still had a long journey ahead of him, at least he knew he had a good friend he could depend on to get him through it. Perhaps their friendship might blossom into something more, it might not. It would all be a waiting game, an exciting one at that.


End file.
